Stop-motion for bed-feather-treating machines.



PATENTED MAY 24, 1904.

. H. BAUER. STOP MOTION FOR BED FEATHER TREATING MACHINES.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

APPLICATION FILED MAB. 3, 1904. I

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No. 760,839. PATENTED MAY 24, 1904. H. BAUER.

STOP MOTION FOR BED FEATHER TREATING MACHINES.

APPLIOATIYON FILED MAR. 3,1904. no MODEL. 7 a sums-sum? 2.

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"No- 760,839. PATENTED MAY 24, 1904-. H. BAUER.

STOP MOTION FOR BED FEATHER TREATING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED HA3. 3, 1904.

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PATENTED MAY 24, 1904. H. BAUER. v STOP MOTION FOR BED FEATHER TREATINGMACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED M AR. 3 1 904.

5 SHEETS-SHEET 4.

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s IL'I'EIS c0., mormuma, wnsnmo PATENTED MAY 24, 1904.

TNO. 760,839.

v H'.B AUER. STOPIMOTION FOR BED FEATHER TREATING MACHINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAB. 3, 1904.

B'SHEETS-SEEET 5 no 10mm.

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Patented. May 24, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

HERMAN BAUER, CANNSTATT, GERMANY.

STOP-MOTION FOR BED-FEATHER-TREATING MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 760,839, dated May 24, 1904.

Application filed March 3, 1904.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HERMAN BAUER, a citizen of the Empire of Germany, residing in Cann= statt, in the Kingdom of Wiirtemberg and Empire of Germany, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Stop-Motions for Bed-Feather-Treating Machines, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an improved stopmotion for bed-feather-treating machines, and more especially to stop-motion of that class which are periodically started and interrupted so that they can be operated in a more satis factory and efiective manner.

The machines heretofore in use for separating, sorting, cleaning and renovating bedfeathers were either continuously-working machines-that is to say, machines having a continuous supply and discharge of feathers to be treatedor machines in which the working is periodically interrupted, so as to permit a new charge of feathers to be supplied to and The former machines were too complicated for practical use, while the latter required careful watching, which increased the expense of running the same. In practice, however, the machines of the second class were more successful, owing to their simpler construction and easier running.

The object of this invention is to provide the bed-feather-treating machines referred to with an improved stop-motion by which they are periodically and automatically stopped for receiving the charge of feathers and started automatically, so as to permit the treatment of the feathers and the removal of the impurities separated from the same, the stop-motion controlling also the outlet-valve of the machine, so as to permit the starting of the separating mechanism of the feathers and the opening of the discharge-valve and alternately therewith the removing of the separated impurities and of the cleaned feathers, and, vice versa, the charging of the machine and the closing of the outlets, and for this purpose the invention consists of a stop-motion for bed-feather machines, which periodically starts and stops an agitating mechanism arranged in the feather- Serial No. 196,436. (No model.)

supply hopper and opens the outlet-valve of the machine alternately with the stopping of the agitating mechanism and the closing of the discharge-valve and the connection of suction-fans with the ingoing and outgoing ends for agitating and feeding the feathers and discharging the separated or cleansed feathers.

The invention consists, further, in the special as will be fully described. hereinafter and finally pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a machine for assorting bed-feathers, showing the supplyhopper at the left-hand or ingoing end of the machine removed for the sake of greater clear-- ness. Fig. 2 is an end elevation of the lefthand or ingoing end of the machine, showing the feather-supply hopper and feather-separating mechanism in vertical section. Fig. 3 1s a plan view of the machine shown in Fig. 1. Figs. 4 and 5 are respectively a sectlonal side elevation and a plan view of the stop-mo 'tion mechanism by which the feathers are al "ternately supplied from the supply-hopper to the assorting-machine while the -outlet-valve of the machine is open or the supply. of feathers interrupted and the outlet-valve closed while the impurities separated from the feathers are removed, and Figs. 6 and 7 are diagrams showing the application of the stopmotion mechanism to a feather cleaning and renovating machine. I Similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

In Figs. 1 to 3 of the drawings is shown a machine for assorting bed-feathers, of the wellknown construction, to which my improved stop-motion is applied. The machine consists of a casing C, provided with glass panels at its sides and ends. A certain quantity or charge of feathers is supplied intermittently to a supply-hopper H, located alongside of the ingoing end of the casing, thefeathers being separated from each other by means of retary stirrers in the hopper and drawn into the casing C of the asserting-machine by the current of asuetion-fan F, located at the outgoing end of the casing midway of its height. The lighter feathers are separated from the heavier feathers and carried by the current in a diagonal direction through the casing and through an inclined perforated screen C, a valved air-trunk C and the fan-casing .7 to the outside, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. 1. The heavier feathers are separated by gravity from the lighter feathers and collected at the lower part of the casing C, from which they are drawn ofl intermittently by a bottom pipe G,suetion-fans F, and discharge-pipe Gr. Below the supply-hopper H is arranged a cylindrical trunk H, which is connected by an inclined chute H with a transverse box H at the ingoing end of the casing, said box being provided with a circular opening 0 and a slide 0 between the box H and easing of a suctionfan F so that the connection between the box H and fan-casing can be established or interrupted. The slide 0' has an opening 0 which when placed in register with the opening of the box .lrl permits thereby the impurities collected in the box H to be drawn out and removed through a gooseneck pipe G, as shown by the arrows at the left-hand side of Fig. 1. In the supply-hopper is arranged a rotary agitator, the vertical, shaft (0 of which has a number of horizontal stirrer-arms a, which beat u p the charge of feathers placed in the hopper and deliver it to the cylindrical trunk H below the same. The vertical stirrer-shaft a is supported in step-and-neck bearings of the hopper, as shown in Fig. 2, and rotated by bevel-gear transmission (6 a from a horizontal shaft (0, to which intermittent rotary motion is imparted by abelt-shifting device which is automatically controlled by a stop-motion mechanism that is shown in detail in Figs. 4 and 5 and which also controls the outgoing-valve 'mechanism and suction-fan and the slide 0, so as to place its opening 0 in register with the opening 0 of the transverse box I1 and the casing of the suction-fan F In the cylindrical trunk H is arranged a horizontal and transverselyslotted partition (0 on which the feathers separated by the stirrer-arms a are dropped. In the slots of the partition a extend the arms 6 of a second agitating device, the horizontal shaft 6 of which receives rotary motion by a belt-and-pulley transmission Z) 6 from the shaft a of the agitating-arms a in the supply-hopper the arms of the second agitating device being of different length and serving to draw the feathers deposited on the partition a through the slots of the same, so as to deliver them into the inclined chute H below the cylindrical trunk H and through the same into the transverse box H.

Rotary motion is transmitted to the differout parts of the feather-assorting machine from a driving-sh aft S, which is provided with a fast and loose pulley, as shown at the lefthand side of Figs. 2 and 3. From the driving-shaft motion is transmitted by belt-andpulley transmissions to the agitating-shafts (t and I) of the hopper and to the stop-motion mechanism by which the automatic actuation of the agitating devices on the one hand, the outlet-valve C of the air-trunk (I the slide 0, and the motion of the suction-fans F, F, and F is controlled.

, Repeated tests with feather assorting and cleaning machines have shown that a certain quantity of feathers can be asserted and cleaned in a certain predetermined time. For asserting or cleaning the quantity supplied periodically to the supply-hopper of the asserting or cleaning machine it is necessary to run the machine for a certain period of time and to arrange the stop-motion mechanism in such a manner that the supply of feathers is automatically stopped, so as to permit the removal of the assorted or cleaned feathers, after which the same operation is repeated, and so on. The stop-motion mechanism by which the agitating devices, the outlet-valves, fans, &c., are set in motion, is shown in detail in Figs. 4 and 5. The parts of the stop-motion are also shown in their relative positions in the ditferentfigures of the drawings. The stop-motion consists of a cone-pulley (l, to which motion is transmitted in any suitable manner from the driving-shaft S. The conepulley (Z is placed on a shaft (6, on which is mounted a worm (Z The worm ul meshes with a worm-gear d" on a second upright shaft (F, that is supported in neck-and-step bearings of a casing I). (Shown in the upper left-hand corner of Fig. 2 and in detail in Figs. 4 and 5.) The upright shaft (Z carries a second worm-gear (Z which is located above the worm-gear d and which meshes with a worm-gear d on a third horizontal shaft (Z also supported in the casing I), said shaft carrying two cams and e, which are so arranged that the largest eccentricity of the cam 12 is diametrically opposite to the largest eccentricity of the came. On the cams a e rest two lovers 6 which are extended in opposite direction to each other, one lever being pivoted to one end of the casingand the other lever to the opposite end of the same. The levers c c are provided with suitable weights 10w, so as to form frictional contact with the cams e a. The weighted lever e is connected. by intermediate lever connections with the belt-shifting mechanism of the agitating devices (0 b in the hopper H in such a manner that by the lowering of the weighted lover a the belt is shifted from the fast to the loose pulley, and thereby the motion of the agitating devicesinterrupted. Simultaneosly therewith the slide 0, which is connected by intermediate lever mechanism with the lever 6 is shifted and its opening 0 placed in register with-the opening in the casing of the suctionfan, so that the current will suck the impuri: ties separated from the feathers and collected in the transverse box H from the box and discharge them through the pipe H As the motion of the cone-pulley and the intermediate worm-gears continues the cam e continues to turn on its axis, so that the lever 6 is gradually raised to its highest position again, so as to produce the shifting of the belt, by which motion is imparted to the agitating devices of the supply-hopper from the loose to the fast pulley, whereby the agitating devices are again set in motion. Simultaneously therewith the opening in the slide 0 is placed out of register with the opening'of the casing of the fan F and thereby the action of the same interrupted, while the feathers which are supplied by the chute from the supply-hopper H are drawn through the casing of the assortingmachine by the simultaneous opening of the outlet-valve C that is controlled by a third cam e on the shaft 65 and intermediate lever connections a, 4: i and e. The suction-fan F is simultaneously set in motion and draws the feathers fed through the chute H and separating-box H through the casing, the,

rent through the air-trunk C and easing of" by suction through the discharge-pipe G of the suction-fan F Simultaneously therewith the discharge of the-heavier feathers at the lower part of the casing is accomplished by the suction action of the fan F.

The agitating devices in the hopper H, op-

erated by the cam e and the intermediate beltshifting devices, and the outlet-valve G 'are operated alternately with the slide 0 and the suction-fan F, so that the feeding of the feathers and separating of the same and the drawing off of the separated impurities and heavy feathers are alternately performed. As before stated, the automatic action of the stopmotion can only then successfully be employed when the quantity of feathers which are suppliedfor each periodical treatment is about the same. This requires that the agitating mechanism in the supply-hopper are arranged so as to feed the feathers in a reliable manner.

This is accomplished by the two agitating devices, the upper one which serves to beat the 7 feathers and separate them from each other, while the lower one takes them through the slotted partition and feeds them in downward direction into the supply-chute. This is an essential condition for the successful working of the machine.

The automatic stop-motion described can also be applied to any one of the well-known .feather cleaning and renovating machines in whichthe supply-hopper is connectedwith a cylinder I, in which the feathers are subjected cleaning action is periodically regulated, While the feed of the feathers to the machine is regulated by the agitating mechanism in connection with the slotted partition below the supply-hopper. When the agitating devices are not in motion, no feathers are supplied to the separating or cleaning chamber, the gate c'of the cylinder I being then in open position for removing the cleansed feathers, as shown in Fig. 6, the operation of the agitating and feeding devices in the hopper being performed alternately with the opening of the discharging-gate of the cylinder.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. An automatic stop-motion for the supply and discharge of feathers in assorting, renovating and cleaning machines with periodically-interrupted motion, consisting of feather feeding and discharging devices, continuously-rotating cams arranged in diametrically opposite direction, and intermediate lever connections between said cams and the feeding and discharging devices, so that the feeding devices are operated alternately with the discharging devices, substantially as set forth.

2. An automatic stop-motion for feather assorting, cleaning and renovating machines, consisting of feather agitating and feeding devices, suction devices at the ingoing end, and discharging devices at the outgoing end of the machine, continuously-rotating cams arranged in diametrically opposite direction and discharging devices for alternately operating said feeding and discharging devices,

I substantially as set forth.

3. In a machinefor assorting, cleaning and.

renovating bed-feathers, the combination,.,

with a supply-hopper and a trunk below the same, of a primary agitating mechanism, a secondary agitating mechanism located below the primary agitating mechanism in said In testimony that I claim the foregoing as trunk, a partition-p1ate having slots into Which my invention 1 have signed my name in presthe stirrers of the secondary agitating devices ence of two subscribing witnesses;

extend so as to draw down the feathers sep- HERMAN BAUER. arated by the first agitating device, and a Witnesses:

chute connecting said trunk with the casing SIEGFRIED FELs, 0f the machine, substantially as set forth. ERNs'r ENTENMAN. 

